“As far as I know, there was nothing wrong with elevator itself,” said one woman. “A piece of something fell off the elevator.”

“There’s a wall that was exposed to the elements and winds were very high and then apparently what happened was part of that wall, which must have been probably weakened, just came crashing down through the elevator shaft and through the ceiling of the elevator car itself,” one resident explained.

Luckily, the car was unoccupied at the time and no one was hurt, but residents are now taking the stairs instead of using the building’s second elevator.

“I’m really scared. One of us could have been hurt and probably wouldn’t have survived,” said one resident.

The Buildings Department is issuing violations and has ordered the elevator out of service during the pending investigation.

This is the latest of several elevator mishaps in New York City.

In December, firefighters had to break through a wall to rescue a person who was trapped inside an elevator in the building that houses The New York Times.

In another incident, 41-year-old ad executive Suzanne Hart was killed on Dec. 14 after the elevator she was trying to get on suddenly jerked upward, crushing her between the elevator and the shaft. That accident is still under investigation.